Latest Edition of NCC E-News Is Now Available Online
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
The Spring 2022 newsletter of the National Concrete Consortium has the following items:
• Moving Advancements into Practice (MAP) Brief titled Mechanistic-Empirical Design Methods for Concrete Pavement Solutions is now available from the NC² Resource Library. Mechanistic-empirical (ME) - unlike solely empirical - pavement design methods use site-specific road structure, materials, climate and traffic inputs to significantly increase both the reliability of pavement performance predictions and cost-effectiveness of the final pavement design. This brief provides an overview of the main capabilities, inputs, outputs and limitations of key ME design methods and tools for various concrete pavement solutions.
• Evaluation of Long-Term Impacts of Early Opening of Concrete Pavements - This research at the MnROAD facility evaluated over four years the performance of concrete pavement subjected to early loading. Ride quality in terms of the international roughness index (IRI), load transfer efficiency (LTE) and petrographic analyses were performed. A mechanistic-based early opening damage analysis and web-based tool were developed to identify the optimum timing for opening to traffic.
• Determining the Optimal Traffic Opening Timing through an In Situ NDT Method for Concrete Early-Age Properties Monitoring - The goal of this Indiana DOT/Purdue University research project was to develop a reliable in situ and nondestructive testing (NDT) method using piezoelectric sensors with electromechanical impedance to determine the early-age properties of concrete for opening to traffic. Potential benefits include determining optimal opening time, cost and time savings, and increased job safety.
• Macrotexture Assessment of Florida Pavements - University of North Florida researchers evaluated a new type of line laser system capable of producing a nearly continuous three-dimensional (3D) texture profile along the roadway surface. The researchers tested this new line laser system toward the goal of characterizing the surface of both rigid and flexible pavements at the network level.
• Evaluation of Chemical Solutions to Concrete Durability Problems - This Texas study focused on the evaluation of alternative materials (other than fly ash) to mitigate alkali-silica reaction (ASR), delayed ettringite formation (DEF) and the corrosion of reinforcing steel. Tests included heat of hydration, strength, electrical resistivity, corrosion potential, chloride diffusivity, sorptivity and expansion testing.
Links to each of the above reports and the NCC newsletter itself can be accessed here.
